Twesh Mishra in an interview. Edited excerpts:
What is the government’s view on the incidents of electric vehicles catching fire?
The road transport ministry is examining the incidents. An independent investigation is underway. I am sure there will be corrective measures in place once the faults have been identified.
The Centre has been putting its weight behind PLI schemes. What has the experience been so far?
The PLI scheme for automobile and auto components industry is for enhancing manufacturing capabilities for advanced automotive products (AAPs), with a budgetary outlay of ₹25,938 crore. It has attracted proposed investment of ₹72,850 crore, against the target estimate of ₹42,500 crore. Proposed investment of ₹43,016 crore is from applicants under Champion OEM Incentive Scheme and ₹29,834 crore from applicants under Component Champion Incentive Scheme. The scheme shall bring in incremental production ofadvanced automotive technology (AAT) products of over ₹2.3 lakh crore.
The overwhelming response shows that industry has reposed faith in India’s progress as a world-class manufacturing destination.
How can PLI help increase our share in advance tech global supply chains?
The PLI-Auto Scheme will facilitate the automobile industry to move into higher value-added products. It also provides incentives up to 18% to encourage industry to make fresh investments in indigenous supply chain of AAT products of PLI Scheme for Automotive Sector. The scheme incentivises only those eligible AAT products for which minimum 50% domestic value addition (DVA) is achieved. It is expected that DVA will increase to more than 50% during the tenure of the scheme.
Other PLI schemes, like those for advanced chemistry cell (
), specialty steel, large-scale electronics manufacturing, IT hardware, and semiconductors, will also help in achieving higher DVA for automobile and auto components.
What could be the reason for higher-than- expected investment commitment in the PLI scheme for automobile and auto components?
There is enthusiasm with respect to AAT products. The focus on zero-emission technology-battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is also an encouragement. There is an attractive incentive package with this PLI scheme for the automotive sector. Incentives can also be availed of under PLI scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) (₹18,100 crore) and faster adoption of manufacturing of electric vehicles (FAME) (₹10,000 crore). The benefit of these schemes can be clubbed to bring down sale price of vehicles and make them more competitive.
When can we see the first batch of vehicles and auto parts being manufactured under the scheme? How will this affect cost of products?
Fiscal 2022-23 is the first production year for which an approved applicant can claim incentive on the determined sales. Sales of AAT products with DVA of minimum 50% from April 1, 2022 would be eligible for incentive, subject to achieving threshold of investment and incremental determined sales.
What changes can be made to better implement FAME?
Under FAME-II, installation of charging stations is a challenge. We are in talks with the oil ministry to install 22,000 charging stations across retail outlets of oil marketing companies.
